Skin deep
by Different perspectives
Summary: Madness is like gravity, all you need is one little push. And Sakura was about to get more than just a little push.


Hello!, I've published a lot of stories on this site, but they're all one-shots, and this is the first story I post in english so if you find any mistake I'd appreciate if you told me please :)

**Disclaimer:** All the characters used in this story belong to their rightful owner.

**Warnings:** Graphic violence, mature language.

This will be a dark fic and it will mainly focus on Sakura and the insanity that surrounds everything in the Konoha asylum for the mentally ill, It will probably get more disturbing as the chapters go by, so beware.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Sakura groaned in frustration as she watched the seemingly endless line of cars that were blocking her way, it was her first day of work and she just couldn't be late, because it wouldn't make a good impression.<p>

Sakura had graduated from highschool when she was 17 years old, she was never a popular girl, most of the time she was the victim of bullies; she was often alone and she had a few close friends, and Ino Yamanaka and Naruto Uzumaki were part of that group. At first Sakura didn't even like Ino, because the blonde girl was actually one of the people who used to make fun of her. Ino was the typical popular girl, tall, thin, blonde, and the captain of the cheerleading squad, she would had never thought of hanging out with such a 'lowlife' like Sakura, but it all changed one day.

It started because of a petty little fight between Temari no Sabaku; another girl who was part of the cheerleading squad, and who always held some resentment against Ino, because she was the captain and Temari wasn't, and Ino, and what was the reason of the fight? Shikamaru Nara. He was new in the school, and naturally, Ino and Temari took notice of him, but they just _couldn't_ share the boy, that was not possible, and when Shikamaru actually decided to go on a date with Ino even though it was such a _drag_, Temari decided that was the last drop, she wouldn't accept that, Ino wouldn't beat her again, she wanted revenge, she wanted Ino to be humiliated; now, no one messed with the cheerleading squad captain, as she was one of the bitchiest and bossiest girl in the school, but if there was someone who could beat her at her own game that person was Temari.

So she planned a way to bring Ino down, Temari knew how big Ino's ego was, so the best way to get revenge was to humiliate her in front of the whole school, and the football game between Konoha and Sound that would be held that Friday night would be the best place to do it.

So the game started, and the cheerleaders began the routine normally.

_Like always._

Sakura didn't even know why she went to the game, she should have stayed at home studying, but instead she was at school with those noisy teenagers, and those cheerleaders that were showing _too much_ skin.

Four girls gathered around to lift Ino in a scorpion heel, and Temari just happened to be one of the bases; she was usually one of the fliers, but that day she said she just didn't feel well enough to maintain equilibrium, so she was set as one of the bases, just what she needed.

Just before the game, unbeknown to Ino, Temari had snuck on the dressing room and sabotaged Ino's clothes, setting the button that keep the skirt together lose so it was easier to pull it off. So when she lifted her in the middle on the routine all Temari did was pull on her skirt and _ta-daa! _Ino was suddenly standing semi-naked in front of a very shocked public. Panicked by her lack of clothes she lost her equilibrium and fell scraping both of her knees and her left arm, and ran crying to the dressing room, _oh,_ but that wasn't all, while Temari was sabotaging Ino's clothes she also hid her spare clothes so she wouldn't have pants to put on after she lost her skirt.

So Ino was trying to find some clothes to cover her underwear and to her surprise she didn't find anything. Nada. Zilch. Nothing.

Sakura winced when she saw Ino fall, and feeling sorry for the poor girl she followed her to the dressing room to offer some help.

Long history short, Sakura lend Ino some pants and helped her with the wounds she sustained when she fell. The next week after the whole cheerleading fiasco, Ino stuck with Sakura, because all her old 'friends' did was make fun of her and taunt her all day. She tried to retaliate, get revenge against Temari, but Shikamaru convinced her otherwise. Sakura and Ino started hanging out more and at the end they became best friends.

And how did she start hanging out with Naruto? Well, the kid was just too nice, he was popular too, but unlike Temari, he didn't have any mean bone in his body, so he just got on with everyone, and thanks to that he formed a solid circle of friends that consisted of Hyuuga Hinata and her cousin Neji, Shikamaru Nara, Tenten, Sakura, Chouji Akimichi and Ino.

Just after Sakura graduated from highschool she started to study medicine in college with Ino, they both got on the medical field getting a degree on the psychiatric field.

And _obviously_ just the day when she needed to be early for work, some idiot crashed against a tree, effectively slowing down the traffic.

It was her first day as a doctor on the Konoha Asylum for the mentally ill, Ino worked there and she was the one who managed to get her an interview with the director of the mental facility. The psychiatric center opened its doors on November of 1948, when the president of Konoha was Hiruzen Sarutobi, at that moment the prisons were just too overridden with criminals so he decided to found a psychiatric center to lessen the concentration of criminals on jails.

30 minutes later, after the police managed to get the crashed car out of the way, Sakura arrived at the psychiatric center; she got in and was immediately received by the director of the medical center, the women who interviewed her before she was hired, Tsunade.

"You're late."

"I know miss, I'm sorry, some idiot crashed against a tree an—"

"It doesn't matter, we need to start now, follow me." The blond woman started walking while a dumbfounded Sakura trailed behind her.

While Sakura walked she couldn't help but feel this _weird_ atmosphere about the place, she feel like every movement she made was being watched, of course she knew there were security cameras in the place, but it was something else, it was like some_one _or some_thing_ was watching her. She could hear the screams of the men who were in the floor below, where they kept the maximum security patients and the ones on solitary confinement.

Tsunade showed her the cafeteria, and she explained that all the inmates had breakfast, lunch, and dinner there, with the obvious exception of the high security inmates. She also showed her the green areas, the infirmary, and the showers.

"All the low security are placed on the first floor, the medium security ones are placed on the second floor, and the high security ones are placed on the floors below this one, with the inmates who are in solitary confinement," Tsunade explained. "When you have a session with one of the inmates two orderlies will escort you there and they will be outside of the room in case something happens,"

"Can't I get an office?" Sakura asked.

"Well, initially you were getting one, but we we're running out of rooms so we have to transform some of the offices on dormitories for the patients. Now, you probably won't be working with the high security patients because it's just your first day, but you should get started with the low and medium security ones."

They walked back into Tsunade's office, where she handed Sakura 5 files, each with the information of a patient.

"The orderlies will take you to the rooms, you need to have a session with those patients, I won't be with you because I'm busy right now with an extremely dangerous inmate, but I'll talk to you at lunch,"

"But Miss Tsunade I—"Before Sakura could finish her sentence Tsunade was already walking away for her.

She eyed one of the files that she was holding in her hand and read it. There was a picture of a brunette woman, and below the photo was her information.

_Name: Yuki Matsumoto._

_Age: 18_

_Disease: Anorexia, Bulimia, Depression, and Dissociative identity disorder._

_Regular Doctor: Kurenai Yuhi_

_Notes: Suicidal behavior, non-violent._

Sakura sighed, she already knew this was going to be a _long_ day.


End file.
